My Corner for Education

On my way home today, a radio talk show host was saying that the scouts group is thinking about adding an additional shooting badge to their existing badges. He was surveying the listeners on the air to see whether people agree with the idea or not. Some people mentioned that it should not be a big deal because it is just like joining a gun club and you will have the practice in a controlled environment anyway. Personally, I don’t think that is such a good idea at all for little scouts to participate in the sport of target shooting. I don’t have problem with taking up target shooting as a sport; however, I think age and maturity are important factors and should be the prerequisites for this sport. I am against the idea because I had the first hand experience of handling guns in my late teen years. Here is the story of my target shooting experience in my senior high school.
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When I went to senior high, all students were required to take military education credits. (I am not sure if this is still the case in Taiwan now.) I quite enjoyed taking the military training which is like the cadets training here in Canada; however, these credits were required for high school graduation. We had to wear this khaki uniform once or twice a week when we had the military classes. The typical high school military education at that time was quite primitive. We simply practiced marching and lining up a lot. I think it was really for the discipline and character development.

I somehow took these credits quite seriously because I thought military universities could be a potential option for me; especially, my high school is located right above one of the elite military universities. I really wanted to join the military right then because I strongly believed in self discipline. All my instructors also recognized my enthusiasm and leadership quality. I guess, with mutual respects, I got along just fine with all of them through out my three years in high school. I was even recommended to attend a military cadets’ summer camp one year.

I was actively involved in many activities at school. One of the clubs I attended was the target shooting club. The club was organized by one of the military instructors. When I first went to the club, we had more than 50 male and female students. By the time we were ready to train as a target shooting team, we only had about 6 girls left. Not too many people could endure the harsh physical training and prolong lifting and aiming a rifle with the weight of a brick or a sand bottle hanging at the tip of the gun. On top of that, we did not have any head gear for hearing protection. (My husband used to tease me that I must be deaf from all the target shooting practices; though I have to confess, sometimes it could be just my selective hearing. Heh, heh, heh.)

For three years in Senior High, I was trained alongside my male teammates in the target shooting team almost every day before and after school. When it got close to the competition, we had to go to the restricted base for target shooting practice with live ammunitions every week. I missed a lot of classes during those few months before each competition, but the experience was definitely worth it! The base was where I learned to respect the training process and how dangerous it could be to mishandle a gun. (I am forever pro gun control!)

With mixed feelings and a twist of fate, I was ready to enter my senior high school. When I first saw the senior high school above Fu Shing Gong in New Pei Tou, Taipei, I immediately fell in love with that environment. Where the school is situated is outside the noisy Taipei city and half way up the hill surrounded by lush green. The school campus was designed to have multi-levels on a hill. Taipei Fu Shing Senior Public High School was a co-ed high school (I don’t know if it is still a co-ed.) The boys’ section was high above the main school office buildings. The girls’ section was at lower level close to the field. The whole school looked so new and refreshing then. It was quite rare to find a campus with such a relaxing atmosphere like that in Taipei.

I fell in love with the campus right away; however, the thought of going through another three years of  torture somehow clouded over my head. The reality was that if I would hope to enter any university in the future, I really should have secured myself in the top three female high schools. Unfortunately, attending any school other than the top three schools would only mean there would be an uphill battle for me in the next three years. Let's face it. Fu Sing Senior High School was the last one on the public school list at that time. I didn’t have high hope or any hope on the school, a “partying” school in many people’s view. So, I thought I could just forget about my dream of attending any university right there and square.

On the second thought, it was a complete surprise and a wake-up call for me to get on the high school band wagon since I thought that I would never be able to pass the entrance exam anyway. I always criticized myself for not preparing well enough for the exam. After being accepted for a high school, I thought, maybe I still had a glimpse of hope. I realized that I should use my time more wisely for the next three years if I ever wanted to advance myself to a college or a university. Put it this way, I was at my wits end because it was impossible for my parents to send me to a private college. I really had nothing to lose at the time; therefore, my attitude towards my next three years in high school was somehow changed. I had to!

Whenever I have confronted an obstacle, I am able to analyze the outlook from different perspectives with a humble but positive attitude. That is really a lesson learned from my life experiences. When I was young and hot headed in high school, I would have never thought of that. After the reality check after that summer before my senior high, interestingly, I ended up enjoying my three years of high school at Fu Shing. I met a lot of good friends, friends who have impacted on me and friends that I would keep for life.(Note 1) I also received and willingly accepted guidance from my teachers who believed in me.

I had very interesting life turning experiences at Fu Shing. I took the leadership role again throughout the three years of senior high and was actively involved in many extra curricular activities at school. (That would be another story on its own.) Since it was a co-ed school, it actually gave me a very positive experience for my character development. I had the opportunity to compete with many male counterparts at school instead of being distracted by the opposite sex at that awkward “hormone raging” age. (Apparently it was the first and foremost concern for my parents, or any parents at that time.) I was trained to be an independent thinker, and most importantly, I was able to endure hardship and overcome obstacles with patience. I realized that positive attitude is everything!

My husband made a comment about my junior high article after he had read my blog. He thought that the way I described my past may give people the wrong impressions that I was a rebellious student. (See post note) Well, I wasn’t. I might be rebellious in spirit, but in fact, I was a good student with just a touch of free spirit of my own.

As a student, I was always polite and respectful to my teachers. I conformed to the school authority and the expectations of others’. I worked hard, but I also struggled to keep up with others. It was not easy to keep my free spirit high in that environment. I was always helpful and energetic at school. I had my group of good friends and certainly didn’t fall into any “wrong crowds”. Seriously, I might have terrible memories of how I struggled to fit in academically in my class, but overall, I did all right at school. I just had my doubts and questions about the education. At that age, we could not do anything about it!

I think I was frustrated with the learning environment and the educational framework that confined students in such a pressured environment to the point that I simply wanted to escape. The education structure did not allow us to learn interesting topics, nor to be inspired to learn in a positive setting. If I did not have high enough grades in academics, I was not considered as a good student. That was so wrong! Now I always try my best to relate my personal experiences to make learning fun. If I do not have fun teaching a lesson, that means my students are not having fun learning it from me either. Learning should be fun and we should have fun learning! (Ha.ha.ha, too many “funs" and too much fun! Having fun is the key.)

I had my most memorable experiences with the marching band in junior high, which fostered my passion for instrumental music. I had a great opportunity to learn different musical instruments and to expose myself in a music appreciation environment. I played a trumpet in the school marching band. Our band performed at so many events and formal occasions. I sang and conducted in a few choir performances. I was also involved in many other extra curricular activities. I entered countless speech competitions and poetry recitals, and won many as well. Another important thing was that I entered the world of English songs and started to develop my love for learning a new language during my junior high years. (See Post Note 2)

One thing about my learning a language is that I am pretty good at “imitating” (or pronouncing) sounds. My university professor gave me 96% for my Spanish Conversation Level 1. (If I am not mistaken, I skipped quite a few Spanish classes. Maybe that's why I don't remember much of my Espanol.)  I remember people used to think that I was probably raised in a family from Beijing because my pronunciation of Chinese Mandarin was so perfect.  Whenever people make comments like that, I would usually show off my “imitating talent” again to prove to them that I can speak perfect Taiwanese-style Mandarin as well. (Hahahahaha) Well, maybe 500 hundred years ago my ancestors did come from somewhere in southern Mainland China, but my gene pools were pretty much developed from the country side of southern Taiwan, the City of Chia Yi.

My life in Taiwan was quite ordinary. My stories from the bygone past were nothing exciting at all. This series of articles, however, are my written thoughts for my own reflections and for family and friends who care very much about me. If you happen to enjoy reading them, I thank you for your time. 

Eons ago when I was in junior high school, prior to my attempt for the high school entrance exam, I had decided that I would never want to go to a regular high school. I simply could not stand to spend another three years to prepare for another tedious nation-wide university entrance exam. I knew I would not be able to make it to the top three female public high schools in Taipei, nor did I care about going to any top high school. I hated the way we studied in junior high. Heck, I certainly did not want to repeat that kind of life for another three years! What little did I know was that life has its twists and turns! 

At the time, in Taiwan, junior students generally had to take many entrance-exams in July to determine the destiny for our future. The first and foremost was the entrance exam for public high schools. The second exam was for five-year junior colleges. There was also an exam for public vocational high schools, and finally, if all failed, we still had the option of entering private high schools. You see, it was quite mind boggling for a little Grade 9 girl to decide her future, but that was just the way it was and the way it had always been in Taiwan. (Apparently, there is no more entrance exam now! I don’t really know much about the new Taiwanese education system.) 

I was so full of myself, young and ignorant, I guess. Since I had completely dismissed the idea of going to a general high school at the time, my options were either to attend a public vocational high school or a five-year junior college. At first, I thought my marks should be decent enough to enter a public vocational school easily. Then I realized that a high school diploma, however, might not be sufficient enough to secure a job later on. So, after much thought about my options, I decided that maybe I should go to a five-year vocational college to get a college degree and get it over with. You see, I got it all figured out and I was very happy with my decision. I declined to take the exam for public vocational schools and saved the fee for the exam all together. “Why waste the money since junior college is a better choice for me!” I thought. 

As the results of the two exams came out, I was facing a really tough decision. First of all, I was lucky to pass the public high school exam and got into the last public school (the 7th at the time) on our wish list, Fu Shing Municipal Public High School. On the other hand, I also got accepted at Ming Chuan Commerce College. (Apparently, it is a university now.) Of course, I wanted to go to Ming Chuan for her famous International Commerce Program. English was the only subject that I enjoyed in junior high. Since English was emphasized so much for this particular program, it was quite obvious to me that I should just seize the chance. 

Since the topic of ability grouping came up (To Stream, or Not to Stream, on March 25), I have this memory relapse about my junior high school in Taipei. No one at my school would believe the traumatic experiences I had with testing and ability grouping in junior high school except our ESL teacher from India. I guess she was traumatized in her past as well. I don’t remember much of the fine details because it was way too farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrback in my past. Maybe I have been trying to suppress my memories of junior high trauma. There were incidents, however, that I would never forget no matter how old I am.

Once upon a time, I went to a very competitive junior high school, Da Li Girls’ Junior High School in Wan Hua District in Taipei. The female principal at the time was notorious for the “tight grip” and“quality control” on her students’ academic performances. I remember she used to live on the school property, and had a tight control of the school from close by. Furthermore, she made sure that her graduates have one of the highest admission rates to the top 7 senior high schools in Taipei. At that time, we had to pass city-wide and nation-wide exams in order to go to a senior high or a university.

My first year in junior high was a fun year though. I had a male teacher who really promoted sportsmanship. I was the leader of the class and heavily into track and field like everybody else in class. I had the high time of my life until my first IQ test, which I did not know much about then. I was naïve, and I could care less at the time. I still remember the day when my teacher called me to his desk, and asked me with a stern face if I actually took the test seriously. Apparently my score was 75. (Ha.ha.ha, 75 is considered developmentally challenged.) He was very upset with me because he knew me well, and no way that I would only score at that level. He was a very kind teacher. In fact, I went to school with his son in elementary school.

In my grade seven class, we had about 49 students in a class and there were 21 grade seven classes! Yes, 21 classes! There were more than one thousand grade seven students in a girls’ school! The grade seven students were not streamed at the time because that was our first year out of elementary schools. We were given the opportunity to adjust to the new environment of a super big school for a year. It was not easy to be in a large school because you tend to lose your personal identity so easily in the large crowd.

I remember vividly that every morning all students would gather in the super sized school yard for national anthem, and then listened to the Principal’s daily lecture and instructional broadcast. At the end of each day, we would be dismissed after another gatheringin the field. If the weather was not cooperating, we would have the broadcast over the P.A. system.